


A Disorder By Any Other Name

by gala_apples



Series: Rentverse [1]
Category: Bandom, Cobra Starship
Genre: Anorexia, Eating Disorders, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-01
Updated: 2012-06-01
Packaged: 2017-11-06 12:15:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/418822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gala_apples/pseuds/gala_apples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's a stomach gurgle that makes Gabe realise the truth. Once he does he's not about to let go, even if it's a conversation Nate doesn't want to have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Disorder By Any Other Name

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a teenage male perspective, which means it's not handled the most sensitively. I essentially wrote this imagining what my group of male friends would say to me if the learned I had an eating disorder, extrapolating from what they said to me when they found out about my OCD related eating issues.

It’s a stomach gurgle that makes Gabe see. He’s driving Nate home, like he almost always does after a performance. Victoria, Elisa and Ryland had plans to catch a movie, and Alex is probably still visiting. One of their most appreciated performance places is Alex’s grandma’s nursing home. They only have to water things down a bit for old people, focus less on Victoria’s pop culture knowledge and more on Ryland’s accents. Mrs Suarez doesn’t remember her grandson’s name, but seems to enjoy their antics in the common room, and the staff always ask them to come back. It makes Gabe happy to make old people happy, and figures it’s true for the rest of the Cobras too. At the very least they don’t have unappreciative assholes calling them fags, like at the food court.

Nate’s stomach makes a noise louder than the CD Gabe has playing, and there’s no way Gabe’s going to leave that alone. He’s composing a comment about how can he be hungry already when they all got free buffet when he thinks back and realises no, Nate actually didn’t grab anything. He was the only one, claiming he wasn’t hungry. Clearly he was full of shit, judging by the noise. So instead he asks “when was the last time you ate?”

“Uh, at the centre?” There’s an implied duh at the end, but Gabe doesn’t buy it.

“No dude, you didn’t. I distinctly remember telling you those were the best spiced potatoes I’ve ever had, trying to make Gerta smile and fall even more in love with me than she is already, and you saying you’d pass.”

“Lunch then.”

Gabe thinks about it and shakes his head. “Bullshit. You wrote your essay the whole lunch hour.”

Nate shrugs, “breakfast then. Whatever. Would explain why I’m so hungry. I’m gonna microwave a burger when I get in.”

“Bullshit for a third time, Ryland told me your neighbour let him in the house to get your ass out of bed this morning. I had to congratulate him for getting you out of the house in three minutes, Victoria scribbled a plaque on notebook paper and everything.” Nate’s sleeping in and nearly missing first period is notorious, at least twice a week one of them has to drive over and try to get him up. There’s only one spare key between the five of them, half the time Mrs Carson ends up letting them in. It was bittersweet handing over the title, Gabe had whittled the process to five minutes before Ryland fucked his record. “And with all the bullshit I’m guessing you’re not going to eat when you get in either. Shit, now that I think about it I can’t actually remember the last time I saw you eating. What the fuck. Have you _stopped_? Are you like-”

Gabe doesn’t look over, it’s icy, which requires a bit more attention to the road. But he doesn’t need to look over at Nate’s interruption to know he’s scowling. “I swear to god if you call me anorexic I’ll punch you in the face.”

Gabe shrugs, hands still on the wheel. “What do you want me to call it then? A rose by any other name would-”

“Gabe, if you continue to quote Shakespeare I will _still_ punch you. I’ve been in drama every semester just like you, Shakespeare does not impress me.”

“Fine dude. I won’t sugar coat it with the bard. No matter what I call it, a deadly disorder is still a deadly disorder. Deadly, man. You can die from that shit. Can’t you at last be like Pete’s girlfriend and have it off and on?”

Nate blurts ‘Ashlee has no willpower’ but at least he has the grace to blush after. Gabe would like to think it’s embarrassment bit it’s probably just irritation for the lack of control. After all, eating disorders are supposed to be about control. He thinks. He hasn’t exactly done deep research on it, not yet. It was sort of Pete’s problem, not his. He’ll consult Elisa and the internet later, they both know everything. He probably should have done that before this conversation but it’s not like he knew what he was getting into.

“So, which kind of starving do you do? The kind where you just don’t eat, or the kind where you puke after? Or both?” He’s not _stupid_ , he knows it’s anorexia and bulimia. But apparently Nate doesn’t want to hear the words, and if Gabe has to use euphemisms to get more information, he will.

“Why does it matter? It’s not like I’m about to pass out. People need less food than they think they do.”

Gabe’s fingers tighten on the steering wheel. All he wants to do is tie Nate to a chair and force feed him, but he’s pretty sure Nate would never talk to him again. Still, he has to ask. “What would you do if I just took you to a Burger King and said we were going to stay until you had a Whopper? Would you do it, then vomit when I wasn’t looking?”

“I really don’t know what the fuck you want me to say. This is a stupid intervention. I’m obviously fine. You didn’t even notice until five minutes ago.”

“Yeah, because I didn’t think I’d have to watch for it. You’re not Pete, I’m used to saving my crazy spotting for him. And you’re not a figure skater or a ballet dancer either. It’s not like you wear a lot of spandex for me to say ‘oh shit I can count your fucking ribs’. Fucking hell, Nate. You don’t know what to say? Hell, I don’t know what to do. I never ratted Pete to anyone. But you have parents that would probably give a shit, so. And all his bullshit probably won’t end up with him dead, especially since he has Patrick and Andy to watch him when he gets manic and steal his keys. This shit is different, it’s not like you’re fat-” Nate snorts and Gabe looks away from the road to glare at him. “I said, it’s not like your fat and have pudges for your body to eat off of. You’ll fucking die.”

Nat crosses his arms, hands almost disappearing in the cuffs of his hoodie. It makes Gabe wonder how long he’s been wearing them to hide, what he looks like under the size medium. “How has this never come up on E?”

“When was the last time Cobras did E and sat around talking for nine hours instead of partying?” At Gabe’s shrug and offered ‘few months’ Nate continues “well this is more recent.”

“Oh you picked up your new lifestyle choice this week?”

“Fuck off Gabe.” But he doesn’t sound like he wants to fight. He doesn’t even sound mad, just tired, as tired as Gabe suddenly feels. He already has to worry about Pete, and how the fuck the Cobras are going to make it big, and how furious Elisa’s parents are going to be when she finally tells them that just because she’s taking SATs doesn’t mean she’s applying to colleges. Nate being all fucked up only makes life harder.

“What can I ask you to eat that you actually would?” Nate’s body is hungry, even if his mind is refusing it. Growling stomachs mean people need food, and Gabe will stop anywhere and buy Nate anything, if he’d actually eat it.

Nate shrugs. “Celery? An apple?”

Gabe knows celery is something called an empty calorie, even though he doesn’t know what the fuck that means. He’s never really paid attention to dieting bullshit. “Apple. I’ll stop by Super One before I drop you off.”

“We have apples in my house, man.”

“I said, I’ll stop by Super One.” Because he’s _not_ going to let Nate out of the car without seeing him eat the whole damn thing. He will sit in the parking lot until a tow truck comes, but he’s not going to let this go on any longer.


End file.
